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The girl in the painted caravan: memories of a Romany childhood
By Eva Petulengro. 2011
Born into a Romany gypsy family in 1939, Eva Petulengro's childhood seemed to her to be idyllic in every way.…
She would travel the country with her family in their painted caravan and spend evenings by the fire as they sang and told stories of their past. She didn't go to school or visit a doctor when she was unwell. Instead her family would gather wild herbs to make traditional remedies, hunt game and rabbits, and while the men tended horses to make a living, the young girls would join the women in reading palms. But Eva's perfect world would be turned upside down as the countryside became increasingly hostile to all travellers. 2011.The gift of a home: with decorations
By Beverley Nichols. 1972
The genius and the goddess: Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe
By Jeffrey Meyers. 2009
Dual biographies of playwright Arthur Miller (1915-2005) and actress Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962). Traces the couple's disparate family backgrounds and 1956…
marriage. Describes Monroe's role as Miller's muse but posits that her psychological problems and feelings of inadequacy led to their divorce after five years. Some descriptions of sex. 2009.The first man in my life: daughters write about their fathers
By Sandra Martin, Ed Martin Sandra. 2007
In twenty-two original narratives, some of Canada's most acclaimed writers share stories, memories, insights, and revelations - from the comic…
to the tragic - about the first man in their lives. These complex stories will open a fresh and intense conversation with daughters everywhere about the men they've observed since childhood: their fathers. Some descriptions of sex and violence and some strong language. 2007.The errand runner: reflections of a rabbi's daughter
By Leah Rosenberg. 1981
The color of water: a Black man's tribute to his white mother
By James McBride. 1996
One of twelve siblings in Brooklyn, the author was confused about his mother's race. She called herself light-skinned and refused…
to discuss her past. Years later she admitted to being an Orthodox rabbi's daughter whose family shunned her after her marriage to the first of her two black husbands. Some strong language. 1996.The draw: a memoir
By Lee Siegel. 2017
Hoping to make a killing in New Jersey real estate, the author's father, Monroe Siegel, takes a draw from his…
employer against unearned commission. When the recession hits in the 1970s, Monroe finds himself owing a small fortune to his firm. He sinks toward divorce and bankruptcy, while Lola, Lee's mother, suffers a nervous breakdown that turns her into a different person. Shamed and enraged by his father's fate, Lee grows up wondering what society owes a person who has failed materially but preserved his humanity. Touches on fundamental questions: How do we balance our obligations to ourselves with our obligations to others? What do we owe society when its rules have a legal basis but not a moral one? 2017.The elephants in my backyard: A Memoir
By Rajiv Surendra. 2016
Actor Rajiv Surendra read "Life of Pi", discovered it was being adapted into a major motion picture, and embarked on…
a ten-year journey to land the role of a lifetime. But this is not a journey of goals and victories, this is a story of obsessively pursuing a dream, overcoming failure, and finding meaning in life. 2016.The history of the Bronte family: from Ireland to Wuthering heights
By John Cannon. 2000
This account of the Bronte family traces their Irish ancestry from its murky origins around 1710 to 1820 when the…
Bronte family arrived at Haworth Parsonage, Yorkshire. Patrick Brunty was the eldest of a family of ten from Ballynaskeagh near Newry in County Down. His parents were uneducated and impoverished, but his father, Hugh, was known locally as a storyteller whose repertoire included the strange tale of Welsh Brunty, almost certainly a prototype for Heathcliff. Patrick won a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge, was ordained a Church of England priest, and held various ministries until finally he arrived in Haworth with his wife suffering from cancer and six young children. He cherished literary ambitions which he passed on to Charlotte, Emily and Anne; and this book points out certain themes and stories in their novels which could only have come from a profound knowledge of their Irish roots as told to them by their father. 2000.The glass castle: A Memoir
By Jeannette Walls. 2006
Reporter for MSNBC.com looks back on her unsettled life. Describes growing up in a dysfunctional family, which was always on…
the move. She recalls her father's dream of building a "glass castle," and relates how she and her siblings escaped to make lives of their own. Bestseller. 2006.The girl: Marilyn Monroe, the Seven year itch, and the birth of an unlikely feminist
By Michelle Morgan. 2018
When Marilyn Monroe stepped over a subway grating as The Girl in The Seven Year Itch and let a gust…
of wind catch the skirt of her pleated white dress, an icon was born. Before that, the actress was mainly known for a nude calendar and one-dimensional, albeit memorable, characters on the screen. Though she again played a "dumb blonde" in this film and was making headlines by revealing her enviable anatomy, the star was now every bit in control of her image, and ready for a personal revolution. The ripple effects her personal rebellion had on Hollywood, and in trailblazing the way for women that followed, will both surprise and inspire listeners to see Marilyn Monroe in an entirely new light. 2018.The Duke of deception: memories of my father
By Geoffrey Wolff. 1979
The author recaptures the paradox of his brilliant father's turbulent life. Although he found it "fun to be Duke Wolff’s…
son," it was also harrowing to see his father's lies, debts, drinking, and irresponsibility. Some strong language. 1979.The desire of every living thing: a search for home
By Don Gillmor. 1999
When Don Gillmor's grandmother broke her hip at the age of eighty, a family secret was revealed: her twin sister…
was not really her twin, but her aunt. The secret had been hidden since the family moved from Scotland to Winnipeg in order to escape the shame of her illegitimacy. The discovery of this secret prompted Gillmor to journey to Scotland and trace his family's history. 1999.The devil rides out
By Paul O'Grady. 2010
This is the second book of Paul O'Grady's autobiography. As Paul struggles to get to grips with unexpected fatherhood and…
bereavement, he searches high and low for a job that lasts and somehow finds himself getting married in the process. Work takes him from an abattoir to a children's home, from a hospital to a nightclub, and from penthouse to pavement. Along the way, he develops his Lily Savage drag act, tastes the exotic delights of Manila and invades Poland. Includes strong language and violence. 2010.The closer we are to dying: A Memoir
By Joe Fiorito. 1999
Fiorito recalls his life growing as a poor, Italian boy in 1950s Fort William, Ontario. He shares memories of his…
father, and of the stories his father told about his own family. Strong language. c1999.The day John died
By Christopher P Andersen. 2000
Calling this the final book in his Kennedy family trilogy, the author of "Jackie after Jack" discusses the life and…
untimely death of John Kennedy Jr. in 1999. Thirty-eight-year-old John, his wife, Carolyn, and her sister died in a plane John was piloting. Some strong language. Bestseller. 2000.The concubine's children: portrait of a family divided
By Denise Chong. 1994
Chong traces her family's history from China to Canada. Her grandfather left his wife and emigrated to Canada, accompanied by…
the concubine he bought in 1924. In Canada, they stinted and sacrificed to support his family in China. Chong tells of her grandparents and parents, and the visits she made to China to try to unite the strands of her family's past. Winner of the 1995 CNIB Talking Book of the Year Award. 1994.The broken biscuit
By John Cowell. 1999
Author John Cowell’s mother Winifred is a woman of true courage, generosity and spirit; a woman who throughout her life…
has pitted herself against poverty and hardship. The heart-rending story of one woman's struggle and refusal to succumb to adversity - the beatings of a violent husband, the crippling poverty of age – and to raise six children in the only way she knew how. 1999.The boy on the beach: my family’s escape from Syria and our hope for a new home
By Tima Kurdi. 2018
Alan Kurdi's body washed up on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea on September 2, 2015, and overnight, the political…
became personal, as the world awoke to the reality of the Syrian refugee crisis. Tima Kurdi first saw the shocking photo of her nephew in her home in Vancouver, Canada. Tima recounts her idyllic childhood in Syria, where she grew up with her brother Abdullah and other siblings in a tight knit family. A strong willed, independent woman, Tima studied to be a hairdresser and had dreams of seeing the world. At twenty two, she emigrated to Canada, but much of her family remained in Damascus. As Tima struggled to adapt to life in a new land, war overtook her homeland. Caught in the crosshairs of civil war, her family risked everything and fled their homes. Tima worked tirelessly to help them find safety, but their journey was far from easy. Although thwarted by politics, hounded by violence, and separated by vast distances, the Kurdis never gave up hope. And when tragedy struck, Tima suddenly found herself thrust onto the world stage as an advocate for refugees everywhere, a role for which she had never prepared but that allowed her to give voice to those who didn't have an opportunity to speak for themselves. Bestseller. 2018.In 1934 Idina Sackville met the son she had last seen fifteen years earlier, when she shocked high society by…
running off to Africa with a near-penniless man, abandoning her son, his brother and their father. So scandalous was Idina's life - she was said to have had 'lovers without number' - that it was kept a secret from her great-granddaughter, Frances Osbourne. Now Frances explores her tale of betrayal and heartbreak. 2009, c2008.